Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the Infant St. John 1966

Editor: Frederick Sommer’s 1966 mixed-media work, “Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the Infant St. John," strikes me as quite bizarre! The photograph depicts some kind of…sculptural form superimposed on what looks like an idyllic pastoral scene. How do you interpret this work? Curator: The superimposition is key. Consider the original image, likely a Victorian-era illustration, which already carries connotations of sentimentality and idealized family values. Sommer then disrupts this familiar image with this almost grotesque sculptural form, laden with… what? Visceral allusions, perhaps? Editor: Visceral? It almost looks like melted wax or some sort of organic growth… It’s unsettling, actually. Curator: Exactly! And that unsettling feeling is precisely where Sommer excavates deeper meaning. By juxtaposing these seemingly disparate elements, he challenges our preconceived notions of beauty, the maternal figure, and the very act of image-making. Editor: So, it's about challenging established symbols, but to what end? Is Sommer commenting on something specific? Curator: Perhaps he’s exploring the tension between the idealized and the real, the sacred and the profane. These are archetypal images with culturally established, some might argue restrictive, associations. The defacement becomes a way of rethinking those associations. Do you think the title is ironic? Editor: Definitely. It suggests a reverence that the image itself actively subverts. I hadn’t considered the title in relation to the almost defacing additions. Curator: Precisely! Sommer asks us to question not only what we see, but also the cultural baggage that accompanies it. Images carry memories and emotions; what do you think Sommer aimed to say through this manipulation? Editor: I now see it less as bizarre and more as… a potent re-evaluation. It definitely disrupts conventional beauty and makes you question the stories we tell ourselves through images. Thanks for guiding me!